Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
We drop the lumber off at the school then head back to my place so I can make us lunch. When we arrive, he pulls the shopping bag out of the back of the truck.“Tess, I have your security system. It won't take long to get it installed.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that. I was going to call one of those companies tomorrow.”
“They’ll just rip you off. It’s better this way. Besides, it’s easy.”
“Okay. Well, can I help?”
“No. You go start on lunch. I need to make a phone call, and then I’ll get started. Pop’s toolbox should have everything I need.”
3
TORIN
Tess threw me when she said she saw a man dressed like me.
I may have been gone for a while but I know that nobody in this town wears eight-hundred dollar suits. I call my most trusted associate to ask if there’s been any discussion of me or my current whereabouts, and he assures me that no one has been talking. I don’t think he’d lie to me, but my gut tells me he might not be as far in the loop as he thinks he is.
I left the city to escape the heat coming down from a deal gone wrong with a rival family. The situation is being handled on the other side of the ocean, and I was told to keep out of sight until I was given the all-clear. I hope no one’s stupid enough to follow me here for a little retribution, but if they bring a gang war to my mother’s back door, they won’t live long enough to regret it.
I set up the surveillance equipment in Tess’s yard and finish up by placing cameras along the perimeter of the house. All that’s left is to install the alarm panel inside. She doesn’t know it but I’ve set it up so the cameras feed digitally to my cell phone. I’m not gonna have some minimum wage employee at a security company spying on my girl. Just the thought of it makes my blood boil.
“Tess, come here,” I call to her from the front door.
“Yeah. Oh, you’re all sweaty,” she says and I look down at my wet shirt.
“It’s this Maine weather. No matter how cold it is, you still bake in the midday sun.”
“Lunch can wait if you want to give me those clothes. I can wash them while you take a shower.”
“That sounds good, but first, we need to go over this alarm panel so you know how to set it.”
She stands beside me, and I catch a whiff of her perfume. She smells like a fond memory. Is it vanilla? Maybe it’s sugar cookies.
“You smell really good,” I tell her as I input the four-digit code she’s selected.
“Thank you.”
I can feel the heat coming off her again.
That’s part of her appeal to me, I think. She’s so damn innocent.
Tess hands me a towel and shows me to the bathroom of her quaint, craftsman-style cottage. It has the same scent she does. I run the shower and undress. As I lift my clothes from the floor, I look in the mirror and grin. Wearing nothing but a towel, I bring her my soiled clothes. I run my hands down her forearms as she takes them from me.
“It shouldn’t take long, but if you’re done before they’re ready, there’s a robe in the bathroom.”
“What? You don’t like my towel?” I hold my arms out.
Her eyes are drawn to my waist, but she quickly looks away. “I think the robe will be more fitting lunch attire.”
“Maybe but a lot less fun.” I grin.
“What does that mean?” She blushes.
I shrug. “I like watching you watching me.”
With that, I seclude myself in the soft, serene luxury that only a girl’s bathroom provides, with its fluffy towels and bathmats, and floral wallpaper. My place in the city is stark white and filled with sharp edges. I like it but there’s something to be said about being inside Tess’s intimate spaces. It’s like seeing a part of her personality that can’t be expressed with words and proves beyond reason that she’s exactly the kind of girl I would put my life on the line for.
After my shower, I wrap up in the towel again. I reach for the doorknob but stop to look at the big, white bathrobe hanging on the hook. I shake my head and let the towel drop to the tile floor. She wants me to wear the damn robe so I’ll wear it, but I can’t guarantee that my dick won’t pop right out of it when seeing her makes me hard again.
For lunch, Tess has made tomato soup served with freshly baked, crispy bread.
“What grade do you teach?” I ask as I dip a slice of bread into my soup.
“Kindergarten.” She smiles.
“Get them while they’re young and impressionable?”